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Brain candy for Happy MutantsTue, 31 Mar 2015 21:52:03 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Crowdfunding for Cryptome, oldest radical secrets-leaking site onlinehttp://boingboing.net/2014/05/29/crowdfunding-for-cryptome-old.html
http://boingboing.net/2014/05/29/crowdfunding-for-cryptome-old.html#commentsThu, 29 May 2014 19:50:29 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=306894Cryptome.org, there would have been no Wikileaks, though the two organizations' history and methods of operation couldn't be more different.]]>Without Cryptome.org, there would have been no Wikileaks, though the two organizations' history and methods of operation couldn't be more different. I'm pretty sure it's the oldest continuously-running website devoted to the public exposure of secret documents for the public good, and has weathered constant attack and intimidation by entities who would rather that websites like Cryptome not exist.

The website run by John Young and Deborah Natsios has a kickstarter campaign, and it's worth considering kicking in if radical transparency is something you support.

Cryptome has been primarily funded for 18 years by its operators with modest funding by donations for copies of its archives. Outside support would be appreciated but the site will continue in any event.

]]>http://boingboing.net/2014/05/29/crowdfunding-for-cryptome-old.html/feed0Report: NSA works with security vendors to thwart encryption, according to 'Bullrun' docs leaked by Snowdenhttp://boingboing.net/2013/09/05/report-nsa-slices-through-mos.html
http://boingboing.net/2013/09/05/report-nsa-slices-through-mos.html#commentsThu, 05 Sep 2013 21:24:59 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=254166This undated photo released by the United States government shows the National Security Agency campus in Fort Meade, Md.

In the New York Times, a report based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden says the National Security Agency is "winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications."

The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show.

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This undated photo released by the United States government shows the National Security Agency campus in Fort Meade, Md.

In the New York Times, a report based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden says the National Security Agency is "winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications."

The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show.

Many users assume — or have been assured by Internet companies — that their data is safe from prying eyes, including those of the government, and the N.S.A. wants to keep it that way. The agency treats its recent successes in deciphering protected information as among its most closely guarded secrets, restricted to those cleared for a highly classified program code-named Bullrun, according to the documents, provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.

http://boingboing.net/2013/09/05/report-nsa-slices-through-mos.html/feed0Bradley Manning court-martial nears final phase today at Ft. Meadehttp://boingboing.net/2013/07/15/bradley-manning-trial-enters-f.html
http://boingboing.net/2013/07/15/bradley-manning-trial-enters-f.html#commentsMon, 15 Jul 2013 18:55:32 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=242800Photo: Protesters line the entrance to Fort Meade, the army base which houses the military court where Wikileaks source PFC Bradley Manning is on trial.]]>

Photo: Protesters line the entrance to Fort Meade, the army base which houses the military court where Wikileaks source PFC Bradley Manning is on trial. Alexa O'Brien.

The court-martial of PFC Bradley Manning, who leaked government documents to Wikileaks and is being charged by the government with "aiding the enemy," enters its final phase today.

Court will be called into session at 3pm ET. After the judge, Col. Denise Lind, rules on the possibility of a government rebuttal to the defense's case, we can expect motions to dismiss and closing arguments to be presented. Then Judge Lind will deliberate for an unknown period of hours or days. Then, a verdict, to be followed by a sentencing phase.

Last week, prosecutors withdrew a charge that Manning had leaked intelligence to a “classified enemy”.
To prove the charge that Manning has “aided the enemy,” the U.S. government has to establish that he gave potentially damaging intelligence information to an enemy, and that he did so knowingly, with what presiding judge Col. Denise Lind called “a general evil intent”.

The prosecution has struggled throughout the trial to make a convincing case for this charge. Its own witnesses repeatedly told the court that they found no evidence that Manning was sympathetic towards al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, that he had never expressed disloyalty to his country, that they had no evidence that he had ties to any government other than his own, and that they had no reason to believe he had ever collected money for the information he disclosed.

Instead, government witnesses testified, for example, that Manning was involved in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and is on “on the extreme Democratic side” in political terms.

Manning faces 22 charges connected with the disclosure of more than 700,000 military and diplomatic files, including battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. embassy cables, and footage of airstrikes that killed civilians.
With the defense having rested its case last week, court reconvenes Monday to hear arguments on whether to dismiss several of the counts against Manning before the government presents rebuttal case.

Media are not permitted by the court to live-tweet or live-blog the trial from the courtroom; no laptops or phones are allowed inside, and no phones are allowed inside the building some distance away designated for press. But follow these reporters, who are there, and will likely be there until it ends: Alexa O'Brien, Wikileaks Truck, Kevin Gosztola, and Adam Klasfeld.

]]>http://boingboing.net/2013/07/15/bradley-manning-trial-enters-f.html/feed0S. American nations to recall ambassadors from Europe over Bolivian Snowden-panic plane incidenthttp://boingboing.net/2013/07/12/s-american-presidents-vow-to.html
http://boingboing.net/2013/07/12/s-american-presidents-vow-to.html#commentsSat, 13 Jul 2013 00:52:38 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=242413We've taken a number of actions in order to compel public explanations and apologies from the European nations that assaulted our brother Evo Morales," explained Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, who revealed some of the agenda debated during the 45th summit of Mercosur countries in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo.
RT News has more.]]>http://boingboing.net/2013/07/12/s-american-presidents-vow-to.html/feed0Jack Shafer: Edward Snowden and the selective targeting of leakshttp://boingboing.net/2013/06/12/jack-shafer-edward-snowden-an.html
http://boingboing.net/2013/06/12/jack-shafer-edward-snowden-an.html#commentsThu, 13 Jun 2013 02:52:48 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=235814writes media critic Jack Shafer at Reuters.]]>writes media critic Jack Shafer at Reuters. As the US moves to prosecute Snowden, Shafer says we should ask "Why Snowden is singled out for punishment when he’s essentially done what the insider dissenters did when they spoke with Risen and Lichtblau in 2005 about an invasive NSA program. He deserves the same justice and the same punishment they received." ]]>http://boingboing.net/2013/06/12/jack-shafer-edward-snowden-an.html/feed1